What’s In Real Milk And Meat,
And What They Can Do For You!

With the exception of butter, no other food has been subjected to such intense demonization in recent years as red meat, particularly beef…"Beef causes heart disease," say the Diet Dictocrats. "Beef causes cancer, particularly colon cancer…," ¹ they say.  But does it?

 

Built-In Colon Protectors

     Reliable studies show that red meat and whole milk may provide powerful properties that actually inhibit colorectal cancer (CRC), a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the nation. One of these substances, conjugated lenoleic acid (CLA), is an unsaturated fatty acid found only in red meat, whole milk (cow and goat), and whole milk derivatives. Rather than in the visible fat covering organs and seen around muscles, CLA is found in interstitial, non-visible fat in the meat.
     In an Argentinean study, lean (grass fed) beef did not produce colon cancer. Rather the study showed large numbers of cancers being significantly reduced in a group of rats fed this meat. Grass-fed beef with less than 15% saturated fat, appears to provide a ratio of CLA that is double that of high-fat meat. In this study, the meat was “protective of the colon” as in Bible times, and in some countries today. Its CLA also “promoted cardiovascular protection against atherosclerosis.” A growing body of evidence shows that it reduces the incidence, progression, and numbers of metastases [cancers that have spread] and tumors of many kinds. ²
     The National Academy of Sciences announced in 1966 that CLA is “the only fatty acid shown unequivocally to inhibit carcinogenesis in experimental animals, exhibiting consistent antitumor properties…even at very low levels...” ³ , ⁴
     The CLA appears to protect us by a mechanism of strong antioxidant activities against lipid (fat) peroxidation. As a remarkable scavenger for organic free radicals, CLA prevents tissue damage. Death of cancer cells (apoptosis) occurs when red meats and milk fats containing it, are consumed. In the lab (in vitro) CLA demonstrates cytotoxicity to malignant melanoma, breast, lung, and colorectal cell lines.⁵ It is harmless to other cells. Thus consuming such red meat and milk fat products “…may produce a natural chemopreventative effect, without the additional cost of oral supplements or the need for disturbing dietary changes.”⁶
     Colon cancers and others have been associated with obesity. Decreasing body fat storage as CLA has been demonstrated to do, may be one of its antitumoral effects.
     Milk fat has additional anticarcinogens such as butyric acid, sphingomyelin, ether lipids, and metabolites of tumor suppressor lipids. Such properties may all work together (synergistically) with CLA and the very important other nutrients and factors of milk and milk fat.⁷
     This divine “additive” reduces blood cholesterol (hypolipi-demic), is antioxidative, and is an antiatherosclerotic nutrition (decreases risk of CVD)—without adverse effects.⁸
     Contrary to much American conventional, nutritional hype, Biblically grown and properly processed and prepared, red milk and meat may be recommended as “fitting well in a healthy diet.”
     A word of caution may be in order here. At least one study shows increased risk of CRC when meat was roasted too long. Other studies also show that toxic acrylamides, which also may cause cancer, are introduced with overcooking, as well as grilling and deep-frying.⁹

The Creator's Whole Menu

With an unproven premise that red meat causes colon cancer, and admitting “…[it] does not promote cancer in rodents;” rats on a low calcium, 5% safflower oil diet, when fed hemin (not meat) from red blood cells, developed colon cancer in one study.¹⁰ It was presumed that the hemin representing red meat was the culprit. Regardless of the many issues with the study calcium, olive oil (replacing the suspect vegetable oil), and antioxidants, inhibited the cancer in rodents.
     There are significant differences between whole red meat and hemin supplementation. However, it is worth noting that God’s whole menu as found in Scripture, includes excellent sources of calcium,¹¹ extra virgin olive oil, and antioxidants. Besides olive oil, some good sources were cow and goat milk, and fruits. Of course, all Bible foods were organically grown, and a good many of them were often eaten raw as well.

Cholesterol – Do We Need It?

Cholesterol – the mere mention of it strikes near-terror in Americans’ hearts – yet it is important to our health and survival. Contrary to conventional conviction, the healthy human body is unable to produce its entire requirement for cholesterol. Why would God command His people to eat foods with saturated fats if they were not needed, even harmful?¹²
     Discovered in 1784, “cholesterol” comes from the Greek chole (bile) and stereos (solid), plus the chemical suffix–ol from alcohol, though it does not act like alcohol. Your liver, brain, and spinal cord possess high concentrations of this soft, waxy, waterproof substance. It is critical for cellular protection from chemical changes outside the cells, and for their optimal functioning, especially of nerve cells, and thus nerves themselves.
     The liver normally produces 75-85% of cholesterol—approximately 1,000 mg. of cholesterol per day. Cholesterol is required for supporting the immune system,¹³ healthy bones,¹⁴ fluidity determination and waterproofing of cell membranes; feeding and protecting the heart¹⁵ and liver;¹⁶ as fuel for the cells’ mitochondria (minute “power plants”); and utilization of essential fatty acids. Adequate amounts of cholesterol are vital for optimum health.
     Cholesterol also plays a major role in the manufacture of bile, required for emulsifying and utilization of fats. It is important for the metabolism of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K, and for bodily production of vitamin D. Thus it is also important for healthy bones.¹⁷
     Whether cholesterol is manufactured in the body or is supplied as dietary intake, it is the chief precursor for your steroid hormones, cortisol and corticosterone; and aldosterone in the adrenals (helping us deal with stress and protecting against cancer and heart disease), as well as the sex hormones, and those derivatives.
     Recently scientists have found cholesterol to be involved in cell signaling. More than one study shows saturated fats’ protection against viral and other microbial damage.
     Due to its stability—and unlike polyunsaturated vegetable oils—beef’s saturated fat does not use your body’s antioxidants, leaving your body vulnerable to increased cancer risk.
     My family, with its very different genomes and metabolisms, has always eaten liberal amounts of fat sources, including animal-based foods, unrefined coconut butter, avocados, nuts, seeds, and extra virgin olive oil. For decades, upon presenting ourselves for physicals our internist has pronounced our blood fats “perfect” with “very low CVD risk.” Since serum cholesterol tends to decrease with advanced aging when requirement is higher, we would have preferred “elevated” levels going into our seventies and eighties.

The Lower The Better? Not!

“There is no certain correlation between serum cholesterol and coronary artery disease,” declared the famous heart surgeon, Michael DeBakey in his 1964 study with 1,700 participants.¹⁸ “If you say cholesterol is the cause, how do you explain the other 60 to 70 percent with heart disease who don't have high cholesterol?" he asked, along with other experts.¹⁹ Yet 45 years later cholesterol is still the “step child” condemned countless times per day by conventional wisdom.
     Not only does dietary fat not cause cardiovascular (CVD) disease, but low serum cholesterol may be the real culprit,²⁰ according to independent researcher, Professor U. Ravnskov, MD, PhD, who authored the book, The Cholesterol Myths, Exposing The Fallacy That Saturated Fat And Cholesterol Cause Heart Attack, and directed many timely studies.
     Dr. Ravnskov also revealed that serum cholesterol is not a strong predictor of CVD.²¹ In fact, high cholesterol is not predictive at all after the age of 47, according to the thirty-year follow-up of the famous Framingham, Massachusetts’s population’s heart study. Most surprising to many, “…those whose cholesterol went down had the highest risk of having a heart attack!” This two-generation study reported for each 1 mg/dl drop of cholesterol there was an 11% increase in coronary and total mortality.²² (Remember, low cholesterol combined with low albumin is a strong predictor of mortality.)
     Low serum cholesterol does not prolong life and may signal high risks such as cancer, according to notable experts.²³ A patient treated at a veterans hospital sued that agency for withholding his low total cholesterol (TC) figures from him in view of the countless studies he found demonstrating low cholesterol is associated with cancer.

What Are We To Believe?

The American Heart Association‘s (AHA) 1999 annual stroke conference revealed that cholesterol levels less than 180 mg/dL doubled the risk of hemorrhagic stroke compared to those with cholesterol levels of 230 mg/dL. Read it again!
     Today, that website declares that serum cholesterol of 200-239 mg/dL is borderline risk, and high-risk serum cholesterol is anything over 240 mg/L. Previously it protected us from hemorrhagic stroke, now it seems 230 mg/dL is in the risky range. What occurred in the last 10 years to change that thinking?
     An acquaintance tells of his doctor’s intention to get his patients’ total cholesterol down first to 150, then to 100. “I aim to get mine down to zero!” the fellow crowed. “Normal cholesterol levels run around 150 to 250…cholesterol down around 80 to 130— [is] a dangerous proposition for sure. It is at values around 100 or lower that people with serious deteriorating diseases and cancer succumb,”²⁴ advises Dr. Bruce West who has successfully treated perhaps forty thousand CVD patients.
     Who knows where it will end? When you witness the cholesterol “bar” being lowered time after time, does it make you wonder if anyone really knows what is “high” or “low?” Again writes Dr. West:

If it were up to most health professionals, we would eat no saturated fat, consume 6 to 10 servings of grain daily, keep blood pressure at 110/70 or less, and cholesterol at 150 or less with LDL less than 100. This prescription is impossible to follow, flies in the face of substantiated science, and would cause most people to wither as they slowly become diabetic.²⁵

To its great credit, the website of Circulation, journal of the AHA, includes countless studies from various medical journals with such subjects as “cholesterol-rich diets’ usefulness with tuberculosis [low cholesterol is common among these patients];” “immunoprotective effects of high cholesterol for atherosclerosis and infection;” “cholesterol’s association with cocaine addicts’ relapse;” and many other important study extracts that the reader may find of interest.

Low Cholesterol And Fetal Brain Damage

Cholesterol deficiency in the pregnant mother may cause massive brain abnormality in the fetus, finds Professor Max Momence, Director of Medical Genetics Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute, speaking at the International Genetics conference in Melbourne.²⁶ Severe birth defects have been linked to low cholesterol levels during pregnancy.
     Most of these babies are spontaneously aborted early in the pregnancy, while 90% of the live births don’t survive six months. The chief gene linked to HOPE “…can only work properly when [this] protein is bound to cholesterol,” explained Professor Momence.
     This is not a rare condition; rather it is the most common abnormality of the developing brain. The tragedy occurs in an astounding one of every 200-250 embryos lost in the US each year from this condition.

And In The Elderly…

Older people with high cholesterol have half the number of deaths from heart attacks as their peers with low cholesterol, according to a Yale University study.  ^{27, 28}
     The position of The Lancet, the world's leading independent, general medical journal, is as follows:

Our data accord with previous findings of increased mortality in elderly people with low serum cholesterol, and show that long-term persistence of low cholesterol actually increases the risk of death. Thus the earlier patients start to have lower cholesterol concentration, the greater the risk of death.²⁹

According to an article carried in the Canadian Medical Journal, authored by E. Voss and cardiologist Colin P. Rose, lowering cholesterol in those over 70 years of age, may reduce coronary artery disease, however, there are offsetting incidents of cancer.³⁰ Low cholesterol, especially in older people (70-75 years of age), “…is a very, very bad finding.”³¹
     The brain doesn’t function as well without extra fat and cholesterol for seniors.³² Studies also show that high total cholesterol (TC) in the elderly reduces risk of dementia.

Low Cholesterol, High Suicide Rates

Depression, anxiety, and suicide are linked with low cholesterol as reported in 1999 by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), and confirmed by a recent South Korean study.
     People in the lowest quartile of total cholesterol concentrations have more than six times the risk of committing suicide, according to a Journal of Epidemiology study.³³ A famous example, Nathan Pritikin, MD, who gave us the low-fat diet, suffered from cancer and committed suicide. Low cholesterol is also associated with depression and cancer. Our internist reports that the AMA standard of care requires all patients to be checked for depression.
     An old New York City study of autopsies of approximately 140 suicides, which revealed that 100% of them had low serum cholesterol.

Divine Diets For Farm Animals Too

God most often speaks to me upon awakening, before the busy day begins, and my mind is in gear. While writing this section, I was awakened about 4:30 one morning, got up and “happened” to open my Bible to Isaiah 30:24 where we are told that food animals are to be grass-fed, while work animals such as oxen and donkeys, require extra energy from carbs, and are to be given grains as well.³⁴
     “Muzzle not the ox that grinds out the corn;” let these working animals partake of it, farmers are also instructed by their Creator.³⁵ Like many humans today eating excessive grains, grained animals may accumulate excessive saturated fats unless they are work animals. Thus God told His people to feed only these animals, not those to be food animals, high carbohydrate diets.

It’s In The Beef

     All foods that contain fats contain a variety of them. Saturated fat is not the only fat in animal-based foods; it’s just the only one we hear about. Red meat’s fat is varied. Half the fat of beef is the monosaturated fat of heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil. It also includes essential fatty acids (EFA) Omega 3 and 6. It is a heart-healthy fat also found in fish and cod liver oil, which makes platelets slippery, and is a blood thinner to prevent hypercoagulation.³⁶ There’s more good news!
     Richard Dewhurst, PhD, of the UK, wrote me about his studies of grass-fed beef cattle, having found that they have significantly higher Omega 3 (EPA) than Omega 6. The Omega 6:3 ratio of soy and grain-fed beef may be higher than 20:1, whereas grass-fed beef usually has a ratio of 0.16:1, 1:1 to 4:1 being acceptable.³⁷ The grass-fed beef ratio of these EFA of the Bible was likely closer to 0.16:1.
     Other studies show that feeding soy and grains to cattle causes reversal of the essential Omega 6:Omega 3 (EPA) fatty acid ratios.³⁸ According to our local resources, even most beef sold by natural food stores, including organic, is grain-produced, giving likely fatty acid ratios similar to supermarket fresh meat. This is yet another reason to promote and demand grass-fed beef, especially locally.
     Omega 6 in cooking oils and other processed foods “…contributes to development of heart disease and cancer, asthma, arthritis, and depression as well, possibly increased risk of infection,” according to the University of Maryland Medical Center.
     What to do? When local grass-fed beef is available, that is best. However, there are other reasons for purchasing the natural food stores’ meats when grass-fed is not an option. There are a number of Internet offerings as well. It is surprising how many resources become available when we are determined to obey the Word in our eating.
     If it seems you have no good option, why not pray that God will provide one? He feeds the sparrows, and He is even more concerned with our intended food. More about His provision later.

Some Additional Beef Benefits, Or “Meat Is Neat!”

An entire book could be written about the myths and plain misinformation disseminated about red meat. But this chapter is chiefly about what’s right with God’s nutritional gifts. And this gift is a superior source of nutrients. Besides all the essential amino acids and others for quality protein, plus good fats, there are the vital vitamins B₁₂ and B₆, as well as magnesium and zinc.
     Red meat is, in fact, a good source for vital healthy fats. Besides the monosaturated fat mentioned above, one-third of beef’s saturated fat is stearic acid, shown not to raise blood cholesterol levels.
     Surprising to even medical doctors and registered dieticians alike, studies have shown that beef works well in meal plans they use for decreasing blood cholesterol levels.
     Research has shown that as much as six ounces on five or more days weekly, have no adverse effects. In fact, beef produces the same positive changes in blood cholesterol as white meat. In other words, healthy beef is as effective as skinless chicken for reducing blood cholesterol.
     Carnitine, one of beef’s full array of amino acids, is found in meaningful amounts only in red meat.³⁹ A 3.5 ounce steak or like portionof hamburger meat provides an average of 100 mg. Heart energy depends upon carnitine. Back in 1991, Chaitow foresaw also the clinical use of carnitine with obesity since it since it plays a critical roll in enhancing body fat mobilization for energy.
     With its “profound involvement” in fat metabolism and triglyceride reduction,⁴⁰
     [Carnitine] is of potential value in conditions as diverse as intermittent claudication; poor circulation; myocardial infarctions, and kidney disease. Carnitine transfers fatty acids across the membranes of the mitochondria [“powerhouses” of the cells], where they can be utilized as sources of energy.⁴¹
     Unfortunately, organ meats, very nutrition-dense, are little enjoyed in America anymore. God’s ancients and our grandparents included them in their diets to their great benefit. We are still able to get liver and heart with grass-fed beef.

Don’t Leave Out Lamb!

We also buy local spring lamb for the freezer. Like other animal-based foods, this one is packed with essential nutrients for optimal health.
     It is rich in B vitamins; of course, vital vitamin B_12, and others, including niacin for relaxing and getting to sleep, reducing harmful serum cholesterol levels while elevating “good” cholesterol and balancing the ratio; and reducing anxiety and depression. Like other B vitamins, niacin is water-soluble and must be provided daily. Just a three-ounce serving of lamb supplies the daily requirement for this nutrient.
     Lamb is also high in iron (two times more than chicken or pork, and six times more than fish) for required for oxygen energy in muscles; and for brain functions of concentration and memory; zinc for the immune system, and of course, quality protein.
     Forty percent of lamb fat is the monosaturate found in beef and olive oil. One three ounce serving of lamb includes only five grams of fat. Usually lambs are grown on green, lush pasture in the spring.

What About The Fat?

Invisible fat within the muscle is healthy, as we have explained. Other fat is to be trimmed away. Leviticus 3:17 commands us not to eat the fat (cover of muscle and organs) or blood:

And it shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that ye eat neither fat nor blood.

Our Lungs Need Saturated Fat

In her book, Know Your Fats: The Complete Primer for Understanding the Nutrition of Fats, Oils, and Cholesterol,⁴³ Mary Enig, PhD,explains that our very important lung surfactant, is a special phospholipid with 100 percent saturated fatty acids, 68% of which is palmitic acid.”⁴⁴ (Non-hydrogenated palm oil is 45% palmitic acid; butter and chicken fat are approximately 25% palmitic acid.) America’s PD is woefully lacking in this nutritional support for healthy lungs.
     What do you suppose might be another effect of a diet without adequate, quality, saturated fat? Could it contribute to the rising incidence of cancer and other lung issues? “…[W]hile smoking was widespread at the turn of the century, myocardial infarction was not. This suggests that there may be factors in traditional diets that protect against the negative effects of smoking,” wrote Enig and Fallon.⁴⁵

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